In the French Style

Movie: Passages

(spoiler warning for the entire review)

If you read this blog regularly, you'll notice that I have an aversion to "kids' movies", which means I'm probably missing out on some great films. I'm just not interested in movies that have a G or PG rating, except for maybe the occasional nostalgia watch.

Now, a movie like Passages, which is about a gay man who cheats on his husband with a woman, leading to the upheaval of their relationship, which originally had an NC-17 rating before the director argued it down to an R. Well, that's a movie I want to watch. A movie for adults.

Passages is a very French movie, which means that it has a lot of sex and a lot of people being mean to each other. Directed by Ira Sachs, the film stars Franz Rogowski as Tomas, a movie director married to Martin (Ben Whishaw). The film gets right into it when Tomas, feeling rejected by Martin after wrapping up a shoot, goes home with Agathe (Adele Exarchopoulos) and sleeps with her. He then proceeds to straight up tell Martin. The audience picks up that Martin and Tomas already have problems that predate Agathe--but it's not entirely clear what those problems are. It seems that Tomas is craving the excitement of new relationships while Martin is comfortable in a routine. 

To me, it became clear very quickly that Tomas is not as sympathetic as one might suspect. He is incredibly needy--going back and forth between Agathe and Martin for validation and attention while not giving either of them much in return. I thought Passages was going to be about a man discovering he is bisexual or a couple transforming into a throuple...well, it's actually about a guy with a personality disorder blowing up his life. 

Rogowski is excellent at playing a weaselly, unlikable guy. It's not JUST that he cheats on his hubby...he also gets his partner pregnant and then acts like an asshole to her understandably concerned parents. But perhaps the worst sin he commits is getting up Martin's hopes about raising the kid together, knowing that Martin has always wanted kids, and then failing to tell him when Agathe (again, understandably) has an abortion. 

Ben Whishaw is good in everything he's in, but he's especially wonderful at playing the wounded Martin. At first, you see him as this grumpy, rigid guy. But it becomes obvious that he's been partner to a selfish man and when he finally cuts Tomas off, saying, "I want my life back and I don't want you in it." I felt like cheering. 

Adele Exarchopoulos has perhaps the most difficult job in the movie: playing a woman who would sleep with a married, gay man but still retaining the audience's sympathy. She's not an innocent here, and it's hard to understand her motivations. But Passages is one of those movies where the fact that people make bad choices is what makes the movie so real. Because people DO make bad choices, especially in the heat of the moment.

Passages is a sad, French, extremely sexually explicit (seriously, there is one scene that was...*fans self*) movie. I enjoyed it, but I guess it was a bit of a bummer. I wanted it to be more about the exploration of sexual fluidity and the expansion of relationship bonds, but it was about some asshole who needs therapy instead of getting laid. That said, if you like movies about complicated adults, this is one for you!

Grade: B